Piano's plan is far more modest in size and scale than the ambitious $200 million proposal by Koolhaas, which the board abandoned last year, saying it would have been too expensive both to build and to operate. From the NYTimes
By CAROL VOGEL
Published: June 16, 2004
The Italian architect Renzo Piano has been hired by the Whitney Museum of American Art to design an expansion for its permanent collection and for much-needed public and educational space. The decision was made at a special board meeting yesterday after a six-month search by the Whitney's architect selection committee.
Mr. Piano's plan is far more modest in size and scale than the ambitious $200 million proposal of the Rotterdam architect Rem Koolhaas, which the board abandoned last year, saying it would have been too expensive both to build and to operate. Most important, museum officials said, they hope the design will not have a roofline higher than the Whitney's existing home, the 1966 cantilevered granite fortress designed by Marcel Breuer on Madison Avenue at 75th Street.
"We knew we needed to hire an architect who could get a museum building built," said Melva Bucksbaum, who headed the selection committee. "We didn't feel we needed a destination building that would compete with the Breuer building. The Whitney already is a destination. Renzo saw the limitations and was interested in using them, not fighting them."
In a telephone interview Mr. Piano said he would not promise that his extension would not be higher than the existing museum. He added that while "it won't compete with the Breuer building, it will have character." He said it was far too early to say what the extension would look like, but the galleries for the museum's permanent collection would be flexible. "Great American art needs the idea of uninterrupted spaces like a loft, which itself is something very American," he said.
While the budget for the project has not been set, Mr. Piano has a specific footprint in which to build. In the late 1960's, 70's and 80's the Whitney bought five brownstones on Madison Avenue and two town houses behind the museum on East 74th Street. Because the neighborhood is in a landmark district and four of the five brownstones, two of which were merged years ago, are original 1890's buildings, they cannot be demolished. Instead Mr. Piano will use the two town houses and space behind the brownstones. The museum will have to submit its plans to the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission for approval.
"It's not impossible," said Mr. Piano, whose other projects include a new West Harlem campus for Columbia University and the 52-story tower to be built by The New York Times Company and Forest City Ratner Companies at Eighth Avenue and 40th Street. "It's not immense space, but there's enough there." As in his $100 million expansion and renovation for the Morgan Library, Mr. Piano envisions using space underground. He says he believes there is enough space there for additional galleries, a 300-seat auditorium, a bookshop, a library and offices.
Several architects have tackled the Whitney site. For decades neighbors and civic groups have opposed various expansion plans for the museum. In 1985 a $37.5 million, 134,000-square-foot postmodern design by the architect Michael Graves brought so much criticism that the Whitney scrapped the project. It would have greatly altered the facade.
Since then it has proceeded cautiously. Six years ago it expanded from within, gaining 30 percent more exhibition space by moving its library, archives and offices from the fifth floor of the Breuer building to an adjoining brownstone at 31-33 East 74th Street. Mr. Koolhaas's project went through several phases. First he envisioned an 11-story addition behind the brownstones, but that was scaled back to a 9-story building.
Mr. Piano likes a design challenge and has had considerable experience designing museums, including the Pompidou Center in Paris, the Menil Collection in Houston and the Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas. Among his current museum projects are the Morgan Library and a 220,000-square-foot wing at the Art Institute of Chicago.
The artist Chuck Close, who is on the Whitney's board and was on the selection committee, said Mr. Piano's experience was an asset. Mr. Close said that during interviews each candidate architect was asked which other architect designed the best museums.
"Everyone either said Louis Kahn or Renzo Piano," Mr. Close said. But perhaps what Mr. Close liked the most about Mr. Piano's ideas was his intention to use natural light in some galleries. "He talked about city light," Mr. Close said, "and what a difference that would make seeing art."
1 Comment
although i am a great fan of koolhaas, is this just the tip of things to come? clients recognizing the OMA buildings are not built to last, not within the high budgets already established [you dont get piano buildings cheap either] and perhaps the notiions of modern urbanity that koolhaas is seeking to reflect perhaps dont focus on what museums more simplistically want with regard to natural light / great exhibit spaces for art which are brilliant in piano projects.
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